The Year in News 2008

There was the music of 2008, and then there was all the wacky and notable stuff that happened in between. Pitchfork's intrepid team of newswriters work full-time to bring that stuff to your computer screen, but we're always too busy looking ahead to spend much time looking back. Except for right now.

Today we continue an annual tradition with the 2008 Year in News, a roundup of music-related triumph, tragedy, and kookery from the pages of Pitchforkmedia.com over the past year.

Or, if you will, all the news that's fit to reprint.

JANUARY

"TURN ON ME"

Detail from photo by Brian Tamborello

The year began on a sour note, as the fallout from a lovers' spat between Shins keyboard player Marty Crandall and his model/reality TV star girlfriend Elyse Sewell careened headlong into cyberspace.

Charges of domestic assault were hurled in both directions, landing the combatants in jail for a spell and sending their case to court, where it was swiftly dismissed.

In what will no doubt prove a touchstone in the careers of these two musicians, Neko Case and Queens of the Stone Age frontguy Josh Homme saw cute little cartoon likenesses of themselves appear on Cartoon Network program/parade of postmodern weirdness "Aqua Teen Hunger Force". Homme had the honor of joining T-Pain in portraying homicidal ventriloquist dummies (that's homicidal , not homo phobic) in a March episode. Case, fellow alt-country chanteuse Kelly Hogan, and, for some reason, former Philadelphia Phillies all-star John Kruk played a trio of alluring singing sirens in January. Man, and people say Lil Wayne is on some next-level shit.

DAVE "DAY" HAVLICEK, EVAN FARRELL, OLGA SARANTOS, R.I.P.

January saw the passing of Dave "Day" Havlicek (pictured at left), electric banjo player for pioneering proto-punks/concept rockers the Monks. The same month we were also saddened to learn of the late 2007 deaths of Magnolia Electric Co. touring member and former Rogue Wave bassist Evan Farrell (pictured at center), and Olga Sarantos (pictured at right), grandmother to the Fiery Furnaces' Friedberger siblings, and whose voice should be familiar to fans of the Furnaces' 2005 album Rehearsing My Choir .